HTC ThunderBolt on sale for $174.99

Verizon’s first 4G LTE phone, the HTC ThunderBolt, may come with blazingly fast Internet speeds, but it’s price tag of $249.99 is a bit steep. Or, at least, it was. Those of you holding out for a discount may want to head to Amazon. The online retailer is now selling the ThunderBolt for $174.99 with a two-year contract. Better yet, the discount applies to new or existing customers who are eligible for an upgrade.

Though the ThunderBolt has been criticized for its battery performance due to Verizon’s 4G network, the Android 2.2 phone has been a hot seller, competing neck and neck with the iPhone 4, at times. The phone’s specs should be familiar to HTC fans. It runs on a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, has a 4.3-inch touchscreen, can shoot pics with a 8MP rear camera (1.3 front), has Dolby software preinstalled, and has a combined 40GB of memory (8GB internal, 32GB storage). It also comes with Rock Band Mobile, if that’s something you think you might be into.

Amazon is fast becoming a good place to hunt for wireless deals. A few weeks back, the site had the ThunderBolt priced at $129.99. That deal, however, did not extend to existing Verizon customers.